Woman given Distinguished Citizen Award in Florence

But when the Pioneer Day Committee told her she was this year's Distinguished Citizen, Joanne Mohr said she could not believe it.

"I was very surprised," she said.

Born one of five children June 28, 1946, in Vermillion, S.D., to Andrew Lee McDonald and Irene B. (Delaney) McDonald, she grew up on a 160-acre farm, where she helped her parents. Growing up, she attended a one-room rural schoolhouse and then graduated from Meckling High School.

From there, she went to a trade school in Omaha, Neb., where she learned to be a computer operator. She used her trade while working at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion from 1966 to 1983.

Mohr met her husband, Jerry, on a blind date, and six months later, the couple married. In 1983, their life changed when Jerry worked on an organ at the Dewey Layton business in Florence.

"When Jerry came home after working for several months in Florence, (he) said this is where he would like to be," Mohr said. "Dewey had offered him a job."

So the couple moved to Florence and never looked back. At the beginning, they also purchased a trophy shop in Cañon City, where they learned a new trade. At the same time, Jerry worked for Layton installing organs in different places. When Layton passed away, the couple purchased the building in Florence. During this time, Jerry also created wood items.

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From that, people asked the couple if they would do the trophies for them. Before long, the business evolved into a wood and trophy shop.

"As time went by, we added the computer engraver than we've got a laser engraver now," Mohr said. "We made all kinds of wood and items."

Mohr became the manager at the Florence Farmers Market, which is in its fifth year.

"Everybody helps," Mohr said. "I'm just the one who coordinates it. I'm the one if people have a question or problem, they come to me."

This spring, she became a certified master food safety advisor and is teaching classes on canning through the extension office, along with her daughter, Monica Mohr, and Jeri Fry under the supervision of Verla Noakes in the 4-H building at the Rodeo Grounds.

"I have canned ever since I was very young," Mohr said. "I helped my mother, but this is something I took to help at the market. Basically, people asked me so many questions how to do this (so) I took this course for the market."

In addition, Mohr visits elderly people at their houses on a regular basis and volunteers as a weather spotter for the National Weather Service. She also belongs to the Florence Downtown Merchants and Florence Chamber of Commerce.

"It really is an honor when you think about all of the people who live in this town, and they picked me," she said. "I still think it should be somebody else."